1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an image by using a photosensitive and pressure-sensitive developable medium.
More particularly, the photosensitive and pressure-sensitive developable medium has a carrier and a substance applied to the surface of the carrier which is capable of developing a latent image thereon by application of heat and stabilizing the developed image by application of pressure. In operation, the photosensitive and pressure-sensitive developable medium is exposed so that a latent image is formed on the medium. The medium is then developed by application of heat and the developed image is transferred to an image receiving sheet member superposed on the medium and pressurized together with the medium, whereby an image is formed on the image receiving sheet member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Image recording media making use of microcapsules containing photosensitive compositions are known. One such image recording medium is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 179836/1982. This image recording medium has a carrier and capsules having polymeric resinous walls, each capsule containing a vinyl compound, photopolymerization initiator, and a coloring agent precursor. In operation, the medium is exposed so that the microcapsules are set in accordance with the pattern of the image. Then, the medium is pressurized so that the microcapsules which have not been set are ruptured so as to release the coloring agent precursor, thereby forming a color image. This image recording system offers an advantage in that a high quality of image is obtainable with a simple, dry process, but suffers from a disadvantage in that the photosensitivity of the medium is much lower than that of the medium which incorporates silver halide.
Under these circumstances, the present inventors have proposed, in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 117089/1985, a novel image recording medium which has a high photosensitivity and which is capable of providing a high quality of recorded image by a simple dry process, thereby overcoming the above-described problem.
This recording medium is a thermally-developable medium having sensitivity both to light and to pressure. More specifically, this recording medium has a carrier on which is applied a substance which contains at least photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound and a color image forming agent, wherein at least the polymerizable compound and the color image forming agent are contained in common microcapsules.
A method of recording an image by using this thermally-developable photo- and pressure-sensitive developable medium is disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 121284/1985 filled by the same applicant. According to this method, the thermally-developable photo- and pressure-sensitive developable medium is exposed so that a latent image is formed thereon. Subsequently, heat is applied to the medium so that the polymerizable compound is polymerized in the region where the latent image is formed so that the microcapsules are thermally set, thus developing the latent image. Then, an imagereceiving sheet member, which has an image-receiving layer to which an image is transferable, is superposed on the medium carrying the developed image and both media are pressurized together so that at least a part of the microcapsules in the region where no latent image have existed are ruptured to release the color image forming agent, thus forming an image on the image-receiving sheet member.
However, no image recording apparatus has been proposed which makes use of the photo- and pressure-sensitive thermally-developable medium and which is capable of automatically performing a series of operations including the exposure, development by application of heat, superposition of the image-receiving sheet member and transfer and recording of the image by application of pressure.